Leaves in Autumn
by JustADreamAway735
Summary: "And you're weird." "That makes two of us. I win!" Life is odd. While you have a choice in it, you never know where it'll take you. You can be as free as the wind, going to places you didn't know could exist. The funny thing is, like falling leaves, you'll always return to your roots. AU. (K, rating may go up later)
1. A g e F i v e

Jack pouted and crossed his arms when his Mommy told him to not lean too far over the edge of the boat.

These past few weeks were not good at all.

Firstly, Mommy and Daddy lied to him when they said he was getting a baby sister. That wasn't a very nice thing to do, and it made him very sad!

Oh well, he forgave them. They looked sad too when they told him, and Daddy even looked like he was crying; Daddy never cried before.

He could have excused that, but no, they had to lie to him again! Mommy told him to pack everything because they were going on a long vacation to see Uncle Tim and Aunt Cathy. That was really confusing, because school wasn't out for break yet, and he'd never heard of an Uncle Tim or Aunt Cathy. Jack would have asked Daddy, but he was always busy signing a bunch of papers or sending letters.

The next thing he knew, the three of them were walking onto a really big boat ("Ship, Jack," his Daddy would say) and were sailing across the ocean to some new, faraway place where he found out an hour later that Uncle Tim and Aunt Cathy didn't exist. Just like his baby sister.

When he heard that news, Jack lost it. It hurt enough to know that his parents lied to him about his baby sister, but now they made even more things up and were taking him to some new strange place to live in.

Jack liked adventure, but he didn't _want_ to live in another country! It wouldn't have his favorite ice cream flavor, it would probably be really different smelling, and there would be _loads_ of people he didn't know. Even though he was a big kid, and big kids didn't cry, he wanted to do exactly that right now. All of this wasn't fair, and the only reason Mommy and Daddy were doing this to him was because they were older and his parents and had the power to tell him what to do!

Jack was right about to give them the worst, meanest tantrum he could make, but Daddy and Mommy gave him 'the look', and Mommy _never _gave him 'the look' before.

Plus, even though he was the maddest he'd ever been at them, they looked tired and a lot older than a few weeks ago. So he stopped, and instead plopped himself near the railing, sulking and most definitely not happy.

What was he going to do now? Jack thought and thought about what was going to happen to him, and how to teach Mommy and Daddy a lesson for lying to him. They kept punishing him for always playing tricks, so now it was only fair for him to do the same.

A very funny man said loudly that they were going to land soon in Corona, and for everyone to please get their docking parties and luggage ready.

_Hmm, maybe Mommy and Daddy will have one less person in their group, _he thought. Jack turned around to see what they were doing; they had their backs turned to him and were getting their cases ready, Mommy making sure her bonnet was on straight.

Perfect.

Jack slipped away from his parents' sight and into the dense amount of people crowding the starboard exit. He was positive that he could hear Mommy and Daddy yelling his name as if they were really scared, and almost felt bad for running away from them. Then he shrugged it off, remembering that he had a lesson to teach.

The ship stopped, and people flooded off it like water coming out of a faucet. With everybody unknowingly pushing him around or stepping on his feet, it was a wonder that Jack didn't fall over or scrape anything. He could still hear Mommy and Daddy crying for him, but their voices were getting softer and softer.

Finally, he stepped off of the boat and onto the dock. Already, many of the people started to go their separate ways. Leaving Jack out all alone. In the open. Where anything could happen to him.

Jack could sense that his parents would find him soon if he didn't move quickly, so he started walking fast over down one street, then another, made two lefts and finally one right. He felt exhausted for walking so far with nobody to put carry him, so he sat down by a wooden fence and sighed. Well, he did it, ran away from his parents.

What now?

The alley he sat in was virtually bare, save for a few stray pieces of trash and small pebbles. The fence he leaned on was actually a whole line of fence holding in a row of houses' backyards, the opposite side a plain wall of bricks used for shops. Jack didn't hear anything besides his own rustling; with the sky turning indigo, he guessed that maybe the shops were all closing down for the night, and the people were getting on home too. Even alley cats had a place to sleep.

Jack sniffled and hugged himself tighter. Ohh, he hated the dark! Only bad things happened in the darkness, he was sure of it!

The gust of wind passed him by. That wasn't too nice either.

His tummy rumbled loudly. That too.

Jack's frown turned into a fierce scowl. None of this was fair! He was just trying to prove a point to Mommy and Daddy, and now this all happened: it was dark and cold, he was alone, and now his tummy was hungry! Where was the justice in all of this?!

"Hi!" a small voice sang out from the other side of the wooden rails.

Jack tensed at this surprise. He didn't expect this part of the plan to come up.

He turned around and saw a little girl about his size smiling and blinking a pair of really big green eyes. She also had a bunch of blonde hair too. (Did he see it go longer than her nightgown?)The girl giggled again, squealing, "Hi!"

"Uh...hi?"

"Whatcha doing out here? I don't know if you noticed, but it's pretty cold out here right now! And not daytime!"

"Yeah, so?" Jack shifted, uncomfortable already with her.

"Don't you have a mommy?"

"Yeah."

"And a poppa?"

"Yup."

"What about a house?"

"Bingo."

The girl giggled. "Then why aren't you with them right now, silly, and just all by yourself? I think they're gonna miss you if you don't go back soon."

"I know that!" Jack snapped. Geez, what was her problem asking him all these questions? She didn't have to be so nosy! "And what about you, huh? Don't _you_ have to go to your mommy and daddy?"

She paused, tapped a finger on her chin and frowned in concentration, and Jack smirked that he had something-although rather something small-over her. But no sooner was the frown on her face that it was replaced with another bright smile, somehow bigger than last time. And a giggle. Jack was starting to not like those giggles.

"Ya see, a few minutes ago, I _was_ about to go to bed, but I came outside so I could pick up a toy I left out here when I was playing earlier. Then I heard you. So I came over here, and then I said 'Hi!', and then you said-"

"Okay, okay, I get it! You don't need to say what we already said again. I heard it the first time!"

"You're pretty funny, stranger!"

"And you're weird."

"That makes two of us. I win!"

Jack scowled as the little girl danced around. Couldn't she go away already? He just wanted some peace and quiet so he could feel sorry about himself again, was that too much to ask?! He glared, and ordered, "Leave me alone!"

"But I don't want to! Or else you'll be sad again and I don't think you want to be alone out here. Nobody likes feeling that way, even kids like you and me."

Okay, maybe she was right about some things.

A muffled call came from her house, telling for her to come back inside for bedtime. She glanced in between her home and Jack before reaching her arm out to him through the fence. "Want to come inside? It'll be a lot comfier in there, and Mommy will give you some food to eat."

He thought about this for a few moments. On one side, he didn't need to worry about being hungry or freezing; on the other side, he'd be stuck with her until morning! Could his brain and ears deal with her until the sun came out?

His tummy growled at him. Alright, just for this one night he'd tolerate it. After that, no more of her!

"Yeah, I guess I'll go inside."

She clapped her hands, her hair flouncing in waves as she hopped up and down. "Yay, it'll be like a sleepover or something! After you eat-by the way, my Mommy makes the best food in the entire world!- we can talk and play games and tell stories all night long! What kind of stories do you like? Love stories? Scary stories? I love adventure stories, but I don't think a ton of girls my age like them. I don't know, I've never really had a friend before, so-"

Inwardly groaning at the fact that he would have to listen to this for the whole night, Jack did his best to tune her out. Yet she would not. Stop. Talking. No wonder why he never made friends who were girls back in Burgess. They were absolutely nuts!

Before he could block her out completely, though, she asked him one last question.

"Hey, so what's your name anyways."

"Jackson Overland Frost."

"Mine's Rapunzel!"

But he didn't catch that part.

* * *

It's morning, and Jack could not stop twitching his eye.

He thought that when Rapunzel fell asleep (at three in the morning, mind you), he would get some peace and quiet. But no. Apparently, she sleepwalks quite well. Straight over to his cot across the room, in fact. Where she fell down on him. And kept _kicking_ in her sleep.

And now? She picked up right where she left off a few hours ago and kept ranting between how cool a pet chameleon would be and different colors of the rainbow.

He was coming very close to banging his head on the table.

Her mother set a plate full of bacon and eggs in front of him, sending Jack a kind smile when she saw his discomfort with Rapunzel. Although, Jack was pretty upset that she seemed to find this whole thing amusing! This was absolute torture, and there was nothing funny whatsoever about it!

A hurried knock came at the door. Jack proclaimed 'I'll get it', and ran over to the door quickly, if only to escape the kitchen. He opened it up, and there, red-eyed and sniffling, were his parents.

"JACK!"

They picked him up, screaming the stupidness of what he did (trust him, he knew how dumb they were now) while also smothering his face in salty kisses. His Mommy thanked the Rapunzel's Mommy a lot, and Daddy-who had calmed down from his excitement-started to drag him away, saying that they would 'have a talk' at home.

"Where is home, Daddy?"

His Daddy pointed at a very nice looking house. It had a red roof, strong wood, and a nice garden out front. Only one problem, though: it was right next door to Rapunzel's house.

* * *

Later, Jack sat on the stool as his parents were yelling at the top of their lungs. He knew that they were just worried about him, but it still was not something he wanted to hear. So he blocked them out, turning his mind to other things. Since spending time with that Rapunzel girl, he'd gotten better at tuning people out.

As they keep on raving at him, he sneaked a glance out the window to see if there's anything interesting to look at. Ehh, nothing, save for a clear view of across the street.

A flash of winding blonde hair came out of the door. Rapunzel saw him in the window and waved happily.

Jack shut his eyes and secretly grimaced.

It finally registered that his parents were listing off a bunch of punishments for him. Oh well, they couldn't be that bad. Nothing else compared with having to know that _Rapunzel_ was his neighbor now.

* * *

_AN: Yeah, so I got a wee bit inspired by one of my other stories and now...this. Just as a little note, my plan is to (fingers crossed) have one chapter per year of their life together, as neighbors! Who knows where this'll go? In a good direction, I hope! Oh yeah, other little note, this isn't set in a specific time era, and, if it wasn't entirely clear in my text, they're both supposed to be five years old (which would explain the simple sentences and words ^^) I'm not too sure if this will be too-high of a priority on my list, but like I said, who knows? See y'all later, and thanks for tuning in! (PS, Sorry if they seem OOC right now. Kids change when they grow up, right?)_


	2. A g e S i x

Rapunzel strutted into the kitchen with a smile the practically bursted with pride. She planted both hands on her hips and announced, "Mama! Papa! I met the person that I'm gonna marry someday!"

This was able to get her parents to focus on her. Her mother turned a bit away from the bubbling pot, the left side of her mouth curled into a bemused grin. "Really, honey? And just who is the lucky boy?"

"Oh, Mama, he's sooo wonderful and amazing and my prince charming!" Rapunzel twirled en pointe, getting somewhat wrapped in her hair. She giggled and said, "You guys'll like him too, I know it!"

Her Poppa stroked his beard thoughtfully. "Hmm, a prince charming you say? I suppose that he could be fit for my princess. But how can we know for sure?"

"Oh, you know him already Papa."

"Well, I'm an old man dear," her father said with a wink. He picked up his wiggling daughter and sat her on his knee. "I may not know, since my memory isn't in its prime. Tell us, what's his name?"

* * *

"My name's Jack Frost, not Squirt!" Jack narrowed his eyes at the trio of cackling boys that surrounded him. Not taking his glare off of the bullies, he backed slowly into the corner, groping the walls for anything that would help him. "Maybe you should cut those stupid haircuts so what I said can get through your thick skulls!"

Identical scowls formed on all three of their faces.

"GET HIM!"

* * *

"Really now? Well, that's definitely interesting," said Rapunzel's father as he took in the name. He leaned back into the chair and 'hmmm'ed. "He's a good boy, but somewhat mischevious. I don't know if I want you marrying someone like him, Rapunzel."

Her ear-to-ear smile dropped into an worried, slack-jawed 'O', her eyebrows weaved with concern. "But Daddy-"

"Perhaps I should bring this up the next time I have tea with Amelia, right Robert?" A playful grin danced on her mother's lips.

Rapunzel gasped sharply, mortified that her mother would even think about doing something like that. "No, Mama, NO! You CAN'T tell Mrs. Frost this! That's so embarrassing!"

Her father's head cocked dramatically. "Well, what about Mr. Frost then? Surely it would be alright to tell him this the next time we-"

"No, not Mr. Frost! He's Jack's daddy!"

"How about we just tell Jack about-"

"NOT HIM EITHER!" Rapunzel pummeled her father with a flurry of bunny punches.

She did not like the fact that her parents only laughed about it.

* * *

Jack felt sore all over. Those boys really knew how and where to hit.

His stomach throbbing, head pounding, Jack groaned and buried his face in his purple-spotted arms; Mommy was going to have a fit when he came back home.

Grabbing on the wall for support, he slowly lifted himself up, legs wobbling like a newborn pony. The cries of those bullies were echoing off into the distance. He shaded his eyes from the setting sun and blew a long, sloppy raspberry in their direction.

Stupid older kids. Stupid corners.

Stupid Rapunzel for getting him into this mess in the first place.

All he wanted to do was go home after playing some marbles in the park, and there she was, getting surrounded by some mean kids again, and he knew that if he passed by without doing anything, she would start crying, tell her Mommy, who would tell his Mommy, who would punish him for not helping her out. He really hated doing the 'good thing' sometimes.

If he thought that she was annoying before, he really thought she was a pain now. Look where trying to help her got him! Black eyes, sore arms and legs, a blue tummy, and a split lip, not to mention other parts of his body that hurt. Any chances of her being a friend of his was completely gone now. He wanted nothing do to with her!

* * *

After her parents stopped laughing and Rapunzel calmed down enough, her mother explained some things about boys. "Honey, if you want Jack to be your friend though-and we all know that you want him to be-you have to give him some space, or at least try to be nicer to him."

"But I am nice, Mama. I talk to him all the time." Rapunzel was greatly confused; wasn't what she was doing enough?

"Trust me, we know you do." Both parents playfully rolled their eyes. "But Rapunzel, you keep pouncing on him and crush him all the time with the way you talk. I know you're just excited, but if you keep acting that way, you're going to scare him away. And you do still want him to be your prince charming, right?"

Rapunzel nodded eagerly. "Of course!"

"Then you need to tone it down a bit and show that you want to be his friend. You said he saved you from those bullies earlier right? Did you try to help him, or at least thank him afterwards?"

Rapunzel thought back for a moment before slowly shaking her head. "No...I guess I didn't do anything. Is that bad, Mama?"

Her Mama sighed and brought herself a seat at the table. "Not exactly sweetie, but it would do you well to show that you appreciate his actions. After all, Jack helped you a lot earlier. You should return the favor."

"What should I do then?"

* * *

"Girls. Are. Terrible!" Jack stated as he stormed into his house, slamming the back door so it rattled for a good five seconds. He scraped a chair across the living room floor where his mother knitted, placed it right next to her love seat, and sat down, arms 'humphed' in front of his chest. "They ruin everything!"

His mother set down the scarf she was knitting and leaned over to pick up her son. Jack cuddled against her warm, pillow-soft body and started ranting about girls, specifically the one who lived a handful of feet away.

"...And if it wasn't for her, I wouldn't have gotten beaten up like this! It would be all okay if she just didn't exist in the first place!" Jack harrumphed and buried his face in his mother's chest. "Mommy, I hate her!"

His mother forced him to come out from his safe haven and look in her eyes. Though her wheatgrass eyes were full of concern that Jack was hurt, it held a sternly guarded wall that suggested a lecture was to come. Jack hated that look too. "Now Jack, I won't allow you to say such mean things about Rapunzel. She is a very sweet girl, and does not deserve to be talked about in such a way."

She held a hand up to Jack when it seemed like he was going to interrupt. She continued, "Besides, even though it was not nice for those boys to hurt her and you (I'll have a talk with their mothers later), what you did to protect her was such a kind thing to do. It showed that you were very brave, and I am so very proud of you for doing it."

"I still don't like it though!"

His mother slowly stroked her fingers through Jack's oddly white-colored hair. "Sweetheart, sometimes the right thing to do isn't always the easiest or most popular choice. But, if you want to be a good person, you have to follow them anyways. Come now, let's get you cleaned up."

His mother kissed his forehead and cradled him gently in her arms, carrying him to the bathroom to dress up his many wounds. She wrapped bandage after bandage over his skinny arms, slathered soothing mint cream all over his skin, and changed his ripped clothes to freshly pressed cotton overalls. After making sure that every bruise or cut had been taken care of, she carried Jack over to the kitchen, set him down on the counter, and allowed him to have full access to the cookie jar. He may have been ruined his dinner, but even knights in shining armor deserved to be spoiled now and then.

* * *

Rapunzel rapped on the Frosts' door several times. At her feet lied a plate of minty brownies, a card signed 'frum rapunzl', and a single yellow dandelion. Oh, she hoped this would a good enough gift! When nobody answered, she used both of her tiny fists to pound on the door and rung the chimes until she heard a little boy's voice come from the other side.

"Hold on, hold on, I'm coming! Sheesh..."

The door opened to reveal a scowling, bandage-wrapped Jack. He crossed his tiny arms and asked, "What do you want? I'm already hurt as it is, I don't need any more bruises because of you."

Rapunzel blinked back her surprise at his tone of voice. "Jack, it's not like I was the one who hit you though-"

"But it's your fault anyways! If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't need to protect you, and none of this would have happened!"

"What are you trying to say?" Her little six-year-old heart was thrumming to the beat of a violent waltz; this wasn't exactly how she'd pictured this moment to turn out.

"I'm saying for you to leave me alone!" Jack pushed her back a few inches with his forefinger. He stared her down until she got the message through her head. He didn't want to look at her, let alone talk to her! "I think it would be best if you just went home, Rapunzel."

"Oh." The phrase left her lips with a bit too much airiness. Rapunzel bit her tongue as tears started welling up in her eyes. The walls in her throat felt much too cramped, like she was breathing through a sippy straw. She sniffled, and gestured to the presents, saying, "I made that for you. For helping earlier, I mean. I'll go."

The moment Rapunzel took the first step home, Jack felt a deep amount of regret in the hollow recesses of his stomach. Darn it all, he didn't mean to make her cry! And those brownies did look like they took a long time to bake. That flower and card were kinda pretty looking too. Jack grimaced and dared to glance at the girl's receding figure. She was wiping her eyes with the edge of her purple dress.

He groaned. He'd have to do the right thing again, wouldn't he?

"Rapunzel!" Jack called out. Sure enough, she turned around expectedly, not hiding her watery baby greens. Jack awkwardly rubbed one of his arms, saying, "I'm sorry...and thanks for the stuff. It looks good."

Rapunzel immediately brightened her facade, giggled, and skipped the last few feet back home.

Jack rolled his eyes.

Girls were weird.

* * *

_AN: Installment numero 2! Thanks for reading this chapter, and props go out to the flux, beccarulz98, and TWD Lil' AssKicker for their continued support. You guys rock!_


	3. A g e S e v e n

_AN: This chapter is dedicated to **TWD Lil' AssKicker **for their awesome and enthusiastic support in me. You rock monkey socks! ^o^ Oh yeah, and to **Butterflycheese7, Dandelion Lies, Kai'u3, Luzydeath, ****Katyuana, and Nerumi H, **thank YOU guys for favoriting and alerting this lil piece of fic. I LOVE YOU GUYS X1000000!_

* * *

"...It's an egg."

Rapunzel planted both of her hands on her hips and beamed. "Yup, that it is."

"So you wanted to bring me here during recess...for an egg."

"Jack!" she whined. "It's not just an egg. It's a special one! See, I found a book in Mr. Sandmund's bookstore all about magical creatures, and-"

Jack groaned and buried his face in his palms. Oh no, not this again! For the past few months, Rapunzel was in her fairytale phase, trying to find and discover something new in ordinary, everyday things. Her imagination did nothing to help it.

First, it had been trying to prove that one of the palace horses was a magic unicorn named 'Maximus'. Then, she told everyone that there were fairies floating by the fires; her mother and father weren't too happy to hear from their teacher that Rapunzel was getting a bit too friendly with flames. After that little period of pyrotechnics, she decided that mermaids-yes, mermaids- were right by the docks, and she kept crying to her parents and his that they all were eating the mermaids' fish friends. Needless to say, both households avoided cooking fish for a few weeks.

And now, Rapunzel was ranting on about some egg. Sorry, a special egg.

Jack blamed the bookstore man for all of this.

"Don't you see the spots and marks over there, Jack! When I remembered the pictures I saw over in the book, I just knew it was a phoenix one!" Rapunzel gingerly picked the tiny roe up and began spinning around with it, her hair falling out of its unkempt braid with every flounce she took. She smacked a kiss on it and ran back to Jack with a gleeful smile.

Some kids started to stare at them. It wasn't a secret that Rapunzel was a bit odd, but most people left her alone for it. ("What a darling imagination that child has.""Well, she certainly has some creativity in her.""She's interesting, but harmless nonetheless.") Still, that didn't make up for the few morons who thought that her eccentricity was something to stigmatize. Jack balled his fists up and sighed. Okay, maybe she was annoying sometimes, but the two of them became kinda-sorta friends this past school year ('kinda-sorta' was a generous way of putting it on his part) and he felt some responsibility to protect from bozos who didn't know how to shut their yap. Plus, he was different too, and different people had to stick together, right?

As she rattled on about the hatching times and other phoenix trivia, Jack eyed some girls a few steps off. Even though they weren't perfectly in his vision, he could feel their glares and sneers like a heated iron rod that was thrown onto his skin. He took her hand, pointedly ignoring the whistles and jeers of his classmates, and led her around in back of the school house.

As soon as they were in the shadows of the building, Rapunzel let go of his hand, puzzled at their sudden move. "Why'd we go over here, Jack? Isn't it kinda too dark?"

"Well...it was starting to get hot in the sun, and you know how I don't really like heat." What a lie that was. True, he didn't particularly like the sun, but even he knew that that wasn't the reason for them coming into the shadows. Like he could bring her back out there with an honest conscious, where those girls would start laughing and those boys wouldn't hesitate to throw sticks in her hair. Jack never like to be dishonest, but how else could he let Rapunzel down easily?

The words he said were sour in his mouth. Did he want her to believe the ugly truth, or live a beautiful lie?

Her next words were laced with defeat.

"Oh...alright." She saw straight through him. Her shoulders slumped, and she leaned against the rough bricks of the school house, hand idly fondling the 'phoenix' egg.

The truth began to dawn on her: Jack and Rapunzel looked different, _were_ different from the other kids. And some of those kids didn't like them for that. They had to be separated from them for their own good. The question, though, was why?

Jack laid his back in an identical fashion to hers, a bit sorry that Rapunzel had to learn about the news in this way. Guilt ate at him for being the quasi-reason why her smile looked so bitter right now. This past year, he had gotten so used to seeing (perhaps a smidgen tolerating) a shining beam on her face, it was scary to even see a fraction of unordinary gloom. He sighed-he was gonna slap himself later for what he was about to ask-and queried, "Hey, Rapunzel?"

"Yeah?" she answered, not looking up from her egg.

"Well, do you mind telling me more about those phoenixes?"

The corners of her mouth tugged, and she restarted her rant about their flight patterns and feeding habits. She had enough information to fill up the rest of recess, and, after school, whence they walked home together, finished her lecture of the magical creatures right as they reached their respective doors.

All the while, a few kids laughed at them-at _her_-as she talked. The crazy thing, though? Neither Jack nor Rapunzel minded one bit.

* * *

_AN: I know, this one was disappointingly short, and I'm really sorry for that D: But please, try to understand that I **had **to make this one a little interlude so that it could transition well into the rest of the story! Trust me, I **promise** that things will start to pick up from here, I just needed to make this small chapter first. Y'all have faith in me, yeah? *tumbleweed passes by* Yeesh, tough crowd. But you know what, I'm gonna update anyways! Until then, hope you guys enjoyed :)_


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